Reflectarrays are particularly useful to build antenna having specific purposes.
There exist reflectarrays having an array of patch elements, each patch element being designed to shift a phase of an incident polarized electromagnetic wave by a predetermined phase angle.
The phase angle represents the delay or the advance in time introduced by the patch element between the incident electromagnetic wave and the outgoing or reflected electromagnetic wave.
For some specific applications, it is needed patch elements having both:
a) the capability to shift the phase of the incident polarized electromagnetic wave by the predetermined phase angle, and
b) the capability to set a predetermined phase difference between two orthogonal components of the incident polarized electromagnetic wave.
By orthogonal components of the electromagnetic wave, we mean the decomposition into two orthogonal components of the electric field vector in a two-dimension plane. The two-dimension plane is perpendicular to the propagation direction of the electromagnetic wave. Each orthogonal components has its own phase. The difference between the phase of each orthogonal component is called “phase difference”.
For instance, if the phase difference is equal to 0° or 180°, the electromagnetic wave is said to have a linear polarization. If the phase difference is equal to + or −90° and the amplitudes of the orthogonal components are equal, the electromagnetic wave is said to have a circular polarization. For other values of the phase difference, the electromagnetic wave is said to have a elliptical polarization.
Rectangular patch elements having both capabilities a) and b) have been disclosed in the following reference D1:
“Millimeter-Wave Folded Reflector Antennas with High Gain, Low Loss, and Low Profile”, Wolfgang Menzel, Dietmar Pilz and Maysoun Al-Tikriti, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 3, June 2002.
It is desirable to have patch elements other than rectangular patch elements that have both capabilities a) and b).